How Savannah is building a stronger, smarter tomorrow with citizens and AI

Everyone in Savannah deserves to feel safe

Credit: City of Savannah

Credit: City of Savannah

Savannah has long been a city where the best solutions rise from the bottom up, not the top down. Our policymaking is rooted in robust community engagement, open dialogue and honest conversation.

Through in-person and digital town halls, neighborhood meetings and civic discussions, we ensure that the very people impacted by an issue are helping shape the solutions. That partnership builds trust — and it builds a government that delivers fairer, more effective and more equitable services for every Savannahian.

It is this commitment to community-driven progress that inspired our “Innovate With Us” initiative this year. Through a series of listening sessions, we invited residents to join us in confronting the challenges of today — flooding, rising energy costs, neighborhood safety — and codesigning the solutions for tomorrow.

Increasingly, some of those solutions involve new tools, including artificial intelligence, which is helping us turn local ideas into city services that are faster, more reliable and more accessible.

We are already seeing how this blend of community input and forward-thinking technology improves outcomes. One of the clearest examples is in public safety.

Last year, Savannah recorded the lowest rate of violent and property crimes in five years, a trend that continues today. Our progress stems from a strong, community-based approach to policing, enhanced by the responsible use of technology.

Everyone in Savannah deserves to feel safe, and AI is helping us deliver on that promise. Our AI-enabled ShotSpotter network gives police immediate information on where gunfire occurs. When paired with our Flock cameras, which can identify suspicious vehicles in real time, our officers receive accurate, timely data that allows them to respond more effectively, prevent further harm and save lives.

Local conversations are shaping national discourse

What we are learning here in Savannah is shaping a national conversation about the future of local government.

Cities across the country are exploring the potential of AI, not as a replacement for human expertise, but as a tool that strengthens it.

But responsible AI use begins and ends with a simple principle: Keep people at the center. That principle guides my service as co-chair of the National League of Cities’ AI Advisory Committee, where mayors from across the nation are working together to share best practices, shape smart policies and ensure that this emerging technology is used to advance, not undermine, the public good.

Just as Savannah’s success has always depended on the partnership between City Hall and our residents, our AI-enabled future will depend on that same spirit of collaboration. By continuing to listen, learn and innovate together, we will discover new ways to harness technology responsibly and equitably, ways that strengthen our neighborhoods, improve our services and keep Savannah on its upward trajectory.

We have already proved what we can achieve when we work together. Now, as we stand on the horizon of a smarter, more connected future, I am excited to see how community-driven innovation, and community-driven AI, will shape Savannah’s next greatest chapter.

Van R. Johnson II serves as the mayor of Savannah.